Chapter 191: Club Sierra Invitation Pass
The next day.
From early morning, the internal bulletin board of KW Hotel was buzzing with activity.
Normally, no matter what kind of hot topic appeared, the employees barely reacted.
But after the hotel club's restructuring came the "Club Sierra Invitation Pass," and this was simply an issue no one could ignore.
Even more so because the invitation had been personally sent by the man of the hour, Blackhole.
The moment the invitation was scanned and uploaded to the company bulletin board, it spread through every employee's messenger within less than ten minutes.
Written neatly in careful handwriting, the invitation contained the following message.
[ KW Gangnam Hotel Club Rebranding Project Invitation ]
[ On this night, find your own beat at Sierra. ]
[ From DJ Blackhole. ]
The anonymous bulletin board was already on the verge of exploding.
↳ Blackhole personally invited us? Is this real??
↳↳ After KW Electronics, now even the hotel!!! Apparently it's true.
↳ Sierra has been selling out the moment reservations open two months in advance these days ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ
↳ But this is next Monday? Are they pushing out existing reservations for this...?
↳↳ The club is closed on Mondays.
↳↳↳ Ah....
↳ Is it really okay for us to go? Do we have to play the waiting game?
↳ "Find your own beat." ㅋㅋ Blackhole's concept is so obvious.
↳ Ah, it'll be my first time going to a club. What should I wear ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
↳↳ Anyone Manager rank or above gets instant rejection~!!!^^
↳ What's the capacity? Looks like next Monday will be a night without overtime!
↳↳ I heard it's 200 people.
↳ Staff members. I'm asking seriously. Up to what age are people allowed into clubs like this?
↳↳ Honestly... once you're in your mid-thirties, it might already be a little difficult....
The debate grew increasingly heated.
Should they go, or not?
Being invited to a trendy club was great.
But no one knew how the guests had been selected.
What should they wear? Was literally anyone allowed to attend...?
Perhaps they had anticipated exactly this reaction.
Because when the participation requirements were revealed shortly afterward, the bulletin board erupted once again.
[ Dress Code: Free ]
[ Age: 40 and above ]
↳ ??????? Wait ㅠㅠㅠ Isn't this reverse discrimination???
↳ Huh? Forty and older? At a club?
↳ Is this confirmed? HR, please explain ;;
↳ Ah.... Somehow I feel like the atmosphere's going to be... pretty quiet^^;;;
↳ Won't it just be full of executives? ㄷㄷㄷ
↳↳ I'm 39. Doesn't that count? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
↳ (HR Manager Lee Jinyeong) This is the official notice I uploaded. We have reconfirmed all of the above information with the organizers, and everything has been verified as correct.
The unexpected commotion made the hearts of the directors flutter in a strangely unfamiliar way.
It felt like something they had long forgotten was quietly approaching them, gently poking at their hearts.
At first, they had merely scoffed.
'...They're actually serious about this, aren't they?'
This wasn't some formality.
Judging by the handwritten invitation itself, whoever had prepared it was no ordinary person.
No pretentious presentation.
No embellished handwriting.
The wording was sincere and unfamiliar—nothing like polished advertising copy written by professionals.
"Hoo..."
Executive Director Park Sangwoo let out a sigh of amazement.
The entire company spent the day talking about Sierra.
The PR Office, Finance Team, Food & Beverage Division, Banquet Department, Marketing Office, Front Desk, Room Service, Executive Office, and even the Parking Operations Team.
"I'm really leaving work on time that day."
"I never thought I'd live to see the day I actually go to a club."
"But what am I supposed to wear?"
"It says the dress code is free. Wouldn't trying too hard to look stylish just make us look even more outdated?"
"I'm just going in my work clothes!"
The internal intranet post had already exceeded a thousand views.
Internal company content attracting this much attention?
Nothing like this had happened in ten years except employee welfare announcements.
Even during lunch in the company cafeteria, that was all anyone talked about.
"Did your wife tell you to go?"
"She told me to take lots of pictures."
"I'm so jealous, Director...."
"I'm excited, but I'm also nervous. I've never been to a club."
"I think everyone here is in the same boat."
A single invitation from Blackhole had breathed life into the once-quiet KW Hotel.
Another emergency meeting was called.
Executive Director Park Sangwoo tapped the stack of documents on the table.
Inviting them to a club was shocking enough.
But making the participation requirement forty years old and above?
Clubs were places for young people.
What exactly were they supposed to do at a place like that at their age?
Wouldn't they just embarrass themselves trying to act younger than they were?
And yet...
'What is Kim Minsoo really trying to accomplish?'
He tried to see through the true intention.
If this was simply a promotional event, fine.
That made sense.
But the bizarre age requirement of forty and above had completely escaped his calculations.
"Hmm..."
The more he thought about it, the more curious he became.
What exactly was Blackhole?
What exactly was Sierra?
What kind of place was this thing called a club that made young employees so excited they practically stamped their attendance cards with enthusiasm?
To be honest...
He rarely even visited KW Hotel's own club.
The moment he walked inside, he felt like he couldn't breathe, and it seemed as though his ears would burst!
It had also been years since he personally conducted field inspections.
That was work for junior staff now.
Besides...
There was something strangely compelling about this invitation.
Its unfamiliar honesty drew people in.
'Interesting.'
And Executive Director Park wasn't the only one thinking that.
Director Go Daeyeong from the Marketing Office, who sat beside him with a thoughtful expression, felt much the same.
Without attracting attention, he quietly searched for reviews of Club Sierra on his smartphone.
"Director Go, are you really going?"
A younger director in his early forties, recently promoted, asked.
Director Go Daeyeong cleared his throat before answering.
"Well, I'm not particularly interested. But it wouldn't hurt to check out the atmosphere on-site."
"So... you're saying you are going."
"The future of our hotel depends on this. We should see it ourselves before making any judgments."
His expression remained solemn.
But he couldn't completely hide the subtle excitement lingering at the end of his words.
Back when he attended university in Sinchon, he'd never even set foot near a nightclub.
Whenever he happened to have plans around Gangnam Station, he'd secretly steal glances at the crowds gathered outside the once-famous Gangnam Station Deep House.
Rather than thinking it was a place only reckless youngsters visited...
He had simply envied them.
He'd always wondered what made them so happy that laughter constantly echoed in front of those doors.
Silently, he pulled out his planner and circled the date.
Watching him, Executive Director Park asked,
"You're really going?"
"Yes. I should. It's an important field inspection."
"...Field inspection."
I see.
A field inspection.
That made perfect sense.
As though he had suddenly realized something, Executive Director Park casually spoke to the younger director.
"Then send me an application form too."
The moment he said that—
"Me too."
"I'd like one as well."
One after another, people bearing heavy executive titles began following suit.
That's right.
They weren't going to a club to have fun.
This was an important field inspection.
It definitely wasn't because they were curious about what Blackhole had prepared or what a club was really like.
This was work.
Overtime, even!
That was how they kept justifying it to themselves...
"Well, this is the first time being older has actually been an advantage."
"I wonder if it'll be too loud."
"Ahem... It'd be a problem if this were one of those adult nightclubs."
"Director Kim, Sierra isn't that kind of place. I've already looked into everything...."
As though they were setting out to rediscover the beat of their forgotten youth, they eventually found themselves eagerly waiting for the day to arrive...!
Then, that afternoon—
[ Club Sierra applications are officially closed. To everyone still lurking on the bulletin board hoping a spot might open up!!! Give up!!! ]
↳ Wow... You all have such spirit.
↳ No one can resist Sierra.
↳ Have fun! Enjoy it for the younger employees too!!!
↳ Bring back videos ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Thus, applications for the Club Sierra invitation officially closed in overwhelming success—with genuine applicants who were all over forty.
I wondered how many people would actually come.
Fifty?
Maybe a hundred if things went well?
Well, the number itself wasn't important.
When I first performed at Sierra, there hadn't even been fifty people in the audience.
They'd stood far away, doing nothing but nodding their heads while I sweated nervously on stage.
I still remembered it vividly.
Of course, things were different now.
I wasn't exactly a professional yet, but I'd become a fairly seasoned DJ.
Whether there were many people or few, I was now much more accustomed to leading everyone along with my beat.
For a brief moment, I wondered whether restricting the age to forty had been a mistake.
My goal had been to let them experience an unfamiliar world.
But thinking about it seriously, for people their age, the very word "club" was already a psychological barrier.
And DJing?
To them, everything would be unfamiliar.
The controls.
The music.
The structure.
Had I underestimated how overwhelming all that would be?
It was just as those random thoughts filled my head.
"Hey! Hey! Taeyoon!"
The studio door suddenly burst open, and CEO Kim Minsoo strode inside.
His eyes sparkled with almost manic excitement.
His mouth stretched into a grin so wide it looked ready to split apart.
He didn't even need to say anything.
I already knew.
"CEO, did something good happen?"
I cautiously stopped the fader and asked.
"'Something good'? We hit the jackpot. The operation was a success."
CEO Kim Minsoo held out his phone.
"I posted the Club Sierra invitation on KW Hotel's internal bulletin board. Sold out in one hour."
"Huh? Seriously?"
"Yep. Seriously. They even have over sixty people on the waiting list."
He was so excited that he was practically dancing.
"I heard all those stiff old executives sitting in conference rooms were fighting over who got to go."
"...Come on, no way."
"Applications are already closed, and we're still getting calls."
I stared blankly at CEO Kim Minsoo.
The limit had been two hundred people.
Honestly, I hadn't expected numbers like that.
I'd assumed only a few executives would reluctantly show up because of work.
I knew it.
There really wasn't anyone in this world who disliked music.
CEO Kim Minsoo even threw off his jacket before standing behind me.
"Anyway, this is all thanks to Blackhole. Let's really show them what we've prepared."
His eyes settled on the DJ booth.
The equipment I'd spent days wrestling with.
Whew...
I let out a long breath.
Now wasn't the time to hesitate.
Naturally, I walked over to the turntable and gently touched the needle with my fingertips.
That familiar coolness.
It had become so familiar that I now felt affection instead of awkwardness.
There was just one small problem.
"I'm having trouble deciding on the set list."
"Right. Familiar, but not cliché. Special, but not unfamiliar. That's the hard part. Something flashy yet simple."
I couldn't help smiling at CEO Kim Minsoo's joking remark.
He wasn't wrong.
Making them leave with a positive impression of club music wouldn't be easy.
The latest EDM and experimental sounds I normally performed might feel strange and uncomfortable to them.
But I couldn't simply play remixes of popular songs either.
This performance absolutely couldn't become an ordinary one.
This would be Lunatic's first impression.
A bold challenge thrown against old traditions and monotonous daily life.
A completely new experience.
I slowly closed my eyes.
The scattered rhythms inside my mind gradually began falling into place.
Music people over forty remembered with their bodies.
Yet still sophisticated enough to sound fresh today.
And blended with just a drop of Blackhole's own style.
The names that had dominated Korean popular music in the 1990s passed through my mind.
Seo Taiji and Boys.
Deux.
Clon.
Roo'ra.
DJ DOC.
Sobangcha....
And beyond them—
Cho Yong-pil.
Sanullim.
Deulgukhwa.
Names so legendary that I almost felt unworthy of speaking them aloud.
I picked one.
"Even if everyone feels awkward about being in a club at first, once they hear a song they're familiar with..."
I slowly placed my hand on the turntable.
"...their bodies respond. That's the beat of their generation."
As the needle moved beneath my fingertips, "Kung Ddari Shabara" began to play.
I'd heard the singer of this song had also been a famous DJ.
Maybe that was why I'd always loved it so much.
"I really loved this song."
"I think everyone did."
I'd need to find songs that would make even elite white-collar professionals over forty naturally nod their heads along with the beat.
At my response, CEO Kim Minsoo spoke quietly in an unusually serious tone.
"There was a time when simply listening to music without doing anything else was enough to make people happy. Maybe they had days like that too. An age where they didn't have to pretend to be young."
Huh?
Our performance concept had just naturally fallen into place.
I snapped my fingers.
"This is it. Our performance concept. A night where you don't have to become young again."
"Oh, I like that."
Now we had a direction.
It felt like a huge weight had been lifted.
Being conscious of other people's eyes.
Worrying about age.
Pretending not to be tired.
Feeling awkward in unfamiliar places.
Feeling awkward with an unusual hairstyle.
The thing powerful enough to overcome every one of those walls...
Was sensation.
And what awakened that sensation were familiar beats and forgotten songs.
This set list wasn't simply about mixing tracks.
It was about stitching memories together.
Helping them rediscover the rhythm of the youth they'd forgotten.
And through that rhythm...
Club Lunatic would open the door to a new era.
I rewound the needle.
Even after CEO Kim Minsoo left, I kept digging through music from the '80s and '90s like a madman.
What should the opening song be?
Which song would loosen their stiff bodies first?
My fingertips.
The rhythm within me.
I thought I'd already found the answer...
"...No, wait."
Something felt off.
Was nostalgia and retro sentiment really what they wanted?
What we were trying to create was a place like Moon Night.
It absolutely couldn't become the real Moon Night.
It needed to become a club that defined a cultural movement—not regress into some old-fashioned tteokbokki restaurant.
Besides...
That approach was far too predictable.
So...
"What am I overthinking for?"
I changed the strategy a little.
Not selling nostalgia.
Repackaging it.
Instead of reaching for the turntable, I launched the DAW (music composition and arrangement software) and sat back down in front of the computer.